User guide

© 2011 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information. Cisco Validated Design Page 39
Cisco, NetApp, and VMware have developed FlexPod for VMware® as a platform that can address current
virtualization needs and simplify their evolution to an IT as a service (ITaaS) infrastructure. FlexPod for VMware is
built on the FlexPod infrastructure stack with added VMware components, including VMware vSphere™ and
vCenter™ for virtualized application workloads.
3.5.1 Audience
This document describes the basic architecture of FlexPod for VMware and also prescribes the procedure for
deploying a base FlexPod for VMware configuration. The intended audience of this document includes, but is not
limited to, sales engineers, field consultants, professional services, IT managers, partner engineering, and
customers who want to deploy the core FlexPod for VMware architecture.
3.5.2 FlexPod Architecture
The FlexPod architecture is highly modular or ―pod‖ like. While each customer‘s FlexPod unit might vary in its
exact configuration, once a FlexPod unit is built, it can easily be scaled as requirements and demand change.
This includes scaling both up (adding additional resources within a FlexPod unit) and out (adding additional
FlexPod units).
Specifically, FlexPod is a defined set of hardware and software that serves as an integrated building block for all
virtualization solutions. FlexPod includes NetApp storage, Cisco networking, the Cisco Unified Computing System
(Cisco UCS), and operating system, hypervisor virtualization software in a single package in which the computing
and storage fit as a cohesive pod. Due to port density, the networking components can accommodate multiple
FlexPod. Figure 30 shows the FlexPod components.
Figure 30. FlexPod Components
The default hardware includes:
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Two Cisco Nexus 5548 switches
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Two Cisco UCS 6120 fabric interconnects